Glorious Retro Gear: Jacky Ickx Limited Edition

Immaculately and imaginatively presented, hand-signed and numbered by the man himself and packed with the 24 defining moments of Jacky Ickx’ incredible career, the Jacky Ickx limited edition is a thing of magnificence and wonder.

You see, Jacky Ickx is the coolest man to have ever existed, with perhaps the most complete, enviable racography historically possible. He drove for Ferrari in Formula One’s Seventies. He carried Porsche through its glory years at Le Mans, and won in everyone’s favorite Ford GT40: the Gulf ’69. Then off to Africa for the greatest rally (or race?) on earth. In the wondrous Porsche 959. And for motorcycle fans: he learned his wet-weather skills in Scottish Six Days Trials on a Zündapp.

That established, back to the book. It’s a rubber-bound bible for Belgian motorsport enthusiasts, worth much more to a race fan than any coffee table it might grace. The pictures are compiled from the era’s best photographers; the writing done by historian Pierre Van Vliet. Each of the 400 English copies (wait too long and you’ll have to learn Dutch to buy one) is signed by the holy entity Ickx himself, and stamped with some kind of hand-welded metal number plate.

But there’s one more inclusion that sets this €995 purchase apart—something that transcends even the label of “book.” Ten tiny bottles filled with bits of Sebring tire rubber, Jacky’s Dakar overalls, Nigerian desert sand, and Porsche 935. There’s even the bark of the Belgian pine Mr. Ickx once crashed into. The full list of the vials’ contents can be seen on the website here. Moto-geologists will be especially interested in the Mulsanne gravel and chunks of Monaco kerbing.

As for the royalties accumulated from the not-inconsiderable price of entry – they’re being donated to the SOS Villages d’Enfants.